May 28, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week is a freebie week so I've gone with a top ten close to my heart. To my mind, you really cannot beat a good first line (except, possibly, with a good last line - a post on which is on its way). Those first few words can make the difference
between a reader instantly discounting a book or being entirely entranced. They can introduce characters, settings,
location or place in time, drawing you into the story while you have still to
truly begin. There are many famous first
lines – 1984, Moby Dick, Neuromancer (er, WOW)… but none of those ones are here. Instead, I’ve collected a few of my own
personal favourites:

The snow in the mountains was melting
and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the
gravity of our situation.

This is my favourite of all first
lines. Instantly, you know the
situation. Bunny is dead. But who is Bunny? Who are “we”? Thus begins a story that winds its way around
a group of university students through the eyes of newcomer, Richard. Entranced by their exclusive world of money,
beauty and ancient Greek he soon finds himself drowning in their strange little
world. The Secret History is a
compelling mystery – never losing the promise of its first line and also a
fascinating character study and tale of friendship and loyalty gone strangely
wrong.

The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to
talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say.

And Hello, Todd. This
first line so completely introduces you to the narrative voice of the book’s
protagonist that he instantly has your attention. The local yokel dialect, lack of punctuation
and double negative signify instantly that this book isn't going to be quite
the norm. And it’s
not. That’s because it is better. Protagonist Todd is memorable for his stream
of consciousness type narration, something that draws you inexorably into Ness’s strange world. Not only is the style mesmerising, but also
clever in that you feel that you are in Todd’s head – or that his thoughts are
in yours, something that ties vitally to the core storyline. Brilliant writing, brilliant characterisation –
brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Read
it.

Marley was dead: to begin with.

Dickens’ quintessentially festive tale follows the
repentance of neighbourhood miser Ebenezer Scrooge, fuelled by the appearance
of numerous spirits during the course of a freezing Christmas Eve night. And, to this day, I am yet to find a more apt
first line in literature. Any mention of
death in a Christmas story, let alone in the opening line, is surely going
against the very essence of the Christmas saga yet Dickens
uses this inclusion to set the tone for what is a truly unorthodox festive
tale and to give the reader an ominous insight into what further bleak
accounts lie ahead. Make yourself
comfortable readers, this isn’t going to be an easy ride. If you are looking for carol singers and
mulled wine this isn’t going to be the tale for you, however, Dickens’
exquisitely written, seminal work explores the capacity for good and evil in
all of us and reiterates the true values we should hold dear during the festive
period. And for those who haven’t read
the original work, you have my word that it does justice to both the
exceptional version starring Bill Murray and the unforgettable account by
Michael Caine and the Muppets (Thank you, PolkaDot Steph for this excellent contribution).

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

What? You didn't think I was going to miss it out... Rebecca is one of my top five favourite books and the first line does what all good first lines should do, it invites the reader to wonder. What is Manderley? Why isn't she there anymore? Why does it haunt her dreams? By the way, if you haven't read it, the answers to all of the above are chillingly awesome.

All children grow up, except one

I recently read Peter Pan and Wendy to my five year old
daughter. She listened with eyes like saucers, entranced by the magic while I
read, entranced by her, reminded constantly that there is only
one child who will never grow old. It always surprises me how few people have read the original
Peter Pan. Full of beauty, sly humour and an oddly adult
sensibility it’s extremely beautiful to read. Yet despite the many gorgeous passages
throughout the book this first line encompasses its contradictory nature better
than any of the rest. It is a line that
is both sad and magical, poignant and filled with joy, haunting and curious –
much like Peter himself.

It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the
crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach’s
Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me
back to Gallanach.

Honestly, who wouldn’t want to know the story behind this
first line (ok, first two lines...)? The Crow Roadis a story of intrigue and
murder wrapped up in a sprawling family saga. Set exclusively in Scotland it is an enthralling tale,
clever, moving and humorous Iain Banks
is a hugely prolific author, writing across genres from sci-fi to horror (his
warped The Wasp Factory is a tour de force, if not one for the faint hearted)
and The Crow Road showcases his style perfectly. And, almost unbelievably the whole thing really is
as good as those opening lines.

There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife

I am pretty sure that were I to go through my Neil Gaiman
collection, I could fill this post with only his first lines. But this one is my favourite. It’s simple, striking and instantly demands
answers. It’s also a beautifully small
start. Just a hand, in the dark, with a
knife. From this point, Gaiman’s story
spirals out to a room, a crib, a child and a journey. Genius.

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he
almost deserved it.

Here is a line that tells you just about everything you need
to know about the character it introduces. On reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader for
the first time at the age of eight, I despised Eustace. Really, hated him. He was, to my mind, the worst kind of boy. Yet, as I read on I discovered that perhaps
he, deep down, had the potential to be a little bit more than the sum of his
rather unsavoury parts. A lesson that I’ve
tried to remember ever since. Because,
really, to truly and utterly deserve such a moniker, you’d have to be a horror
indeed.

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

Surely there are few other lines that so perfectly introduce the reader to the narrator. Holden Caulfield is one of literature's most memorable protagonist and the reasons why are all there in that ballsy first line.

My father took one hundred and thirty-two minutes to
die.I counted.

Marchetta has the
ability to combine haunting phrases with stark reality and it is seen no better
than in the opening of Jellicoe
Road, arguably her best work so far. It’s an incredibly sad line, encompassing
unbelievable horror without ever describing it. It is, as one later discovers, a pivotal line
in the story, despite not being delivered by the novel’s protagonists and the image
created in that first moment is one that will stay with readers long after the
end of the book.

It strikes me that these first lines all have one thing in
common – Like the mystery of Manderley, they all create questions to which a reader must have an
answer. Why does his dog talk? Does anyone
deserve the name Eustace? Why is there a father slowly dying in front of
his children? Why is Marley so
definitely dead? Whose hand holds that knife in the dark? These questions are what grabbed me, pulled
me in and kept me reading. Hopefully,
you’ve all read these particular stories – if you haven’t then you SHOULD. Equally hopefully you all know of some first
lines that dragged you into a book and never let go. Please share them, and their power, with the
rest of us.